# Wine cooler as cigar humidor



## oreo1983 (Jul 20, 2017)

*RH levels a bit high*

Hello everyone. 
Good to be here, I hope maybe you could answer my next question:vs_OMG::vs_OMG:

So here it is, I recently bought a wine cooler to act as a humidor, the unit itself goes to 64-65F according to my hygrometer. I do have a table top, wood humidor which I seasoned, however, due to hot ambiance temp in the house sometimes (I once found out that the temp in the humidoe was 80F:vs_whistle I've decided that wine cooler would do the trick, the cool fridge would keep it nice and below 75F.

My question is, why is it that my RH in the wood humidor is 75%, I have boveda 72% and it showed for days 72% RH solid, and now it went to 75%, is it normal?

Thank you for your time and effort.
Uriya


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## UBC03 (Nov 18, 2015)

I'm not sure where to start. 

Wineador is a great idea for those that live in a warmer climate.

72% ? It doesn't matter what the temp, that's pretty high. You're inviting mold, critters, bad burns, and sour smokes. 

I keep mine at 65ish for ncs..62 for ccs. 

For the temp is shoot for 65.

As for the the rh shooting up. You keep your rh so high that when it got warm your cigars expelled enough moisture that the boveda couldn't keep up. IMO

I advise to not smoke rott because the rh is around 72 and could lead to tunneling, canoeing, and acrid smokes.

Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk


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## oreo1983 (Jul 20, 2017)

The temp is 65F the RH is 72% with boveda packet.

I did order 69% Boveda packets, so I'm going to lower the humidity soon enough.

Everywhere I go, the across the board RH was between 69% and 72% at the highest, I can always go lower if needed.
I don't want to go too low, I don't like dry cigar (65%)


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## UBC03 (Nov 18, 2015)

oreo1983 said:


> The temp is 65F the RH is 72% with boveda packet.
> 
> I did order 69% Boveda packets, so I'm going to lower the humidity soon enough.
> 
> ...


Whatever you prefer.. Just keep and eye out for mold and beetles.

I would argue that 65 is not dry though. Not spongy but not dry either.

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## oreo1983 (Jul 20, 2017)

Ok, thank you.

I will lower the RH in the next few days.

Thank you for your help.


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## Kidvegas (Oct 17, 2016)

oreo1983 said:


> Ok, thank you.
> 
> I will lower the RH in the next few days.
> 
> Thank you for your help.


Everything i run uses 65% beads/bovedas/ kitty litter. IMO 65 is the best for smoking! Great burn lines, perfect taste = perfection!

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## UBC03 (Nov 18, 2015)

Kidvegas said:


> Everything i run uses 65% beads/bovedas/ kitty litter. IMO 65 is the best for smoking! Great burn lines, perfect taste = perfection!
> 
> Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


As always taste and storage are a personal preference. Years ago I went with the 70/70 advice (alot of wasted smokes). But then dropped to 65 or lower and found my niche.

If you find a spot that you like your smokes ,whether it be 60 through 70. As long as you enjoy the experience when you light one up. If you don't and need advice we will be happy to guide them.

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## Kidvegas (Oct 17, 2016)

UBC03 said:


> As always taste and storage are a personal preference. Years ago I went with the 70/70 advice (alot of wasted smokes). But then dropped to 65 or lower and found my niche.
> 
> If you find a spot that you like your smokes ,whether it be 60 through 70. As long as you enjoy the experience when you light one up. If you don't and need advice we will be happy to guide them.
> 
> Sent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk


Couldn't agree more bro!

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## oreo1983 (Jul 20, 2017)

What is IMO? I'm sorry for the stupid question


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## dortold (Jul 17, 2017)

oreo1983 said:


> What is IMO? I'm sorry for the stupid question


IMO = In My Opinion
IMHO = In My Humble Opinion


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## SBjanderson (Jul 11, 2017)

I also have been converted to the 65% clan, I started with the 70/70 in my setup. That is what all my family and friends were and are still running as well. Then I picked up some 69% bovedas and that was my next step down, the difference wasnt much as it usually was still right around the same as before. After that I picked up the 65% Bovedas and I couldnt believe the difference it made in my cigars, whenever all my friends get together and we light up their smokes will constantly run into problems with burning. I rarely ever have a cigar now that I have any issues with, they burn better, and IMHO they even taste better.

Everyone has their own preferences, all of my friends still run theirs at 70% and havnt changed. I would say though to give it a try and see what you think, maybe get one 65% Boveda and put some sticks in a ziplock and let them rest for a couple months, then smoke one and see what you think.

In regards to your question about fluctuation of humidity, how full is your humidor? I have found that since I dont have a full stock in my wineador it tends to run higher.


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## oreo1983 (Jul 20, 2017)

Thank you everyone 
I took a chnace , and put the 65% Boveda in.

The RH levels getting lower, now on 68% , but I know that it needs to equalize itself at least to next couple of weeks. 
I can't wait to taste the difference, thank you all for the help.

Happy smokin'


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## oreo1983 (Jul 20, 2017)

Hi everyone.... I have a follow-up question.
My wineodur is now 66% RH and I love it, the humidity is getting there, I know, it takes time, no worries
The question is, if I'm buying a box of cigars, can I put it inside the wineodur as is with 65% Boveda packs? Or do I need to "season" my wineodur as well?


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## JtAv8tor (Apr 12, 2017)

oreo1983 said:


> Hi everyone.... I have a follow-up question.
> My wineodur is now 66% RH and I love it, the humidity is getting there, I know, it takes time, no worries
> The question is, if I'm buying a box of cigars, can I put it inside the wineodur as is with 65% Boveda packs? Or do I need to "season" my wineodur as well?


If I understand correctly you are asking about putting a new purchase of a box of cigars into an already seasoned and functioning wineador.

It wont be an issue at all, depending on how the cigars were stored where you purchased them from you may see a small spike or drop in the wineador RH as the box of cigars acclimatize to the conditions of your wineador.


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## oreo1983 (Jul 20, 2017)

JtAv8tor said:


> If I understand correctly you are asking about putting a new purchase of a box of cigars into an already seasoned and functioning wineador.
> 
> It wont be an issue at all, depending on how the cigars were stored where you purchased them from you may see a small spike or drop in the wineador RH as the box of cigars acclimatize to the conditions of your wineador.


Not exactly...... My table top, wooden humidor, is seasoned.... I purchased the wineodur in order to keep the temp below 70F. It was my mistake to say that it runs 66% RH, only the wood humidor in which I put inside has this RH. Sometimes I translated the question in my head from my native language, so things get lost.... Sorry for that.

So basically, to recap it, I would like to know if I need to season my winodur with some Boveda packets (65%) and let it do its job, or because the wineodur can't absorb the moisture, due to metal inner lining, and just put the packets in the purchased box.

Thank you for all your help.
Uriya


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## scott1256ca (Jan 4, 2017)

You have a couple of choices, as I see it.
1. Go with a humidity solution for the whole winedor. Like KL (kitty litter), or beads. Some use Bovedas, but I think that is kind of expensive. If you do this, you may have to plug the drain hole. You may also find condensation collecting on the bottom of the winedor so don't put boxes on the bottom shelf, use that for the KL or beads and anything on the bottom shelf should be in a container (without lid) until you know if you are going to have issues or not. NOTE: I only recommended this if your wine cooler is thermoelectric. If it is compressor, solicit opinions from others, but compressor can play hell with the RH in a wine cooler.
2. Put your cigars in tupperware inside the wine cooler with any RH regulator you prefer, like boveda or beads. It will cost you some space and a bit of extra money for the tupperware, but it pretty foolproof. No worry about the drain hole or condensation, since the tuppers are sealed.

To your problem of RH in your humidor when you placed it in the winedor.
If I understand correctly, that would have been a 10F degree drop in temperature. A 10F drop in temp will raise the RH of the air a lot.
If you start with 72% RH @ 75F, the air holds ~15.6 gm/cu. m of moisture. With that much moisture the dewpoint is actually slightly greater than 65F, so 100% RH. So I think your bovedas just needed some time to catch up as the temperature was dropping in your wooden humidor.

Relative Humidity
about 1/2 way down the page, you can plug in the numbers yourself.

Note to self. EMC doesn't play a part in this does it?... No, don't think so.


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## scott1256ca (Jan 4, 2017)

oh, and no, if your winedor doesn't have spanish cedar trays, or any wood, there should be no reason to season. At least I sure can't think of one.


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## JtAv8tor (Apr 12, 2017)

Okay think I am following now, you use a table top wooden humidor, but plan on storing that inside the wineador when needed to keep temperature stable. 


I would highly suggest maintaining the wine cooler at the same Rh or possibly a tad might higher than the desktop on a constant basis that way when you put the desktop into the wine cooler it is not a temperature and RH transition. 


OR if it were me I would just convert the wine cooler to be all time storage for the smokes and use the desktop to keep a few in that you plan on smoking soon.


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## oreo1983 (Jul 20, 2017)

First of all, thank you all for your responses, it looks like you know what you talking about 

Second, the hygrometer that I put inside the wood humidor indicating 65-66 F and 66%-65% RH, so temp and RH are good for me, the wood humidor is inside the wineodur, needless to say that I calibrated the hygrometer, and it works perfectly fine.

So that brings me to the other part, I've been told not to keep cigars in their boxes, due to the fact that those boxes only meant to ship the cigars, not long term storage. So if I purchase a box of cigars, should I take them put and store them in a plastic container? I have Spanish ceder chips from a near by manufacture, so they brought me some bags of it, free of charge.
How should I treat new box of cigars, because up until now I bought only individual cigars.

Thank you for the help.
Uriya.


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## UBC03 (Nov 18, 2015)

oreo1983 said:


> First of all, thank you all for your responses, it looks like you know what you talking about
> 
> Second, the hygrometer that I put inside the wood humidor indicating 65-66 F and 66%-65% RH, so temp and RH are good for me, the wood humidor is inside the wineodur, needless to say that I calibrated the hygrometer, and it works perfectly fine.
> 
> ...


You can keep em in the boxes..I open, inspect, then leave the lid cracked open. Then you can put them into your Tupperware with a proper humidification medium and hygrometer.

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## JtAv8tor (Apr 12, 2017)

Yep really storage in boxes is a whole lot of personal preference and sometimes can border on discussion of religion (joking) but I have cigars that have been in the original box inside my humidor going on 8 years now and no ill effects for me.


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## edibg (Mar 18, 2013)

Hi there, as I just briefly look at the first 2 pages of the wine cooler as humidor, let me share my experience for using such a thing more than 4 years, and not only using - I created electronics/hardware microcontroller to do the job. All details are described in my blog: activehumidor . blogspot . bg

Bellow I will express my personal experience and I know that won't be 100% correct. Keep in mind that I don't use electric humidifier system, cause my humidor is for 9 wine bottles. One very important principle - control the temperature and with proper chemicals the humidity will be always spot on .

So lets start with wine cooler selection(pros +; cons - ) :
TEC wine cooler :
+ Less humidity drop due to lower temperature fluctuation on the cold side;
+Can be controlled precisely - search for PID controlled one. This means it will lock at the temperature that you select and keep it there and will avoid any fluctuations(for the regular once with TEC there is a hysteresis cycle let say 1-2C).
+Cheap for repair;
+Can leave bare cigars in the humidor;
-Maximum temperature difference b/w outside and inside is around 30C which sound a lot but it is not...the hot side usually is at least 15C above ambient temp, and the cold side need to be at least 7-8C bellow the requested temperature in humidor, to maintain it.
-Noise
-Not so efficient compared with the compressor once.

Compressor cooled wine chiller:
+Efficient 
+Quiet 
+Can work on high ambient temp
+Quick to cool
-Forget about leaving bare cigars in this type of wine cooler, everything should be stored in boxes...or let say put a smaller humidor in to the chiller and put a humidifier in to the smaller humidor, so the temperature will be correct and from there the humidity.
-Hard to control precisely - no PID possible.

Thermal inertia :
Select your humidor to be on 80-90% full. If you leave only few boxes in big chiller it will switch on/off too frequently -> will have frequent temperature fluctuation -> humidity fluctuates&#8230;

For humidifying agent, I use 70% humidification crystals, and NO the humidity is not at 70%...keep reading . Since my wine cooler is not an PID type and I didn't create such an algorithm in to the software, the temperature fluctuates and some time it takes 30min to bring it from 21.5 to 20.5 (humidor is set to 21C), during this time, the inner head sink is about 13C, which is bellow dew point(at most cases) - this mean water droplets will form on the heat sink - the humidity in to the humidor will drop. So, by selecting 70% crystals I can maintain around 63-65% relative humidity at 21C. And again this is not PID type, but ON/OFF type of cooling, so during the summer here in Bulgaria it keeps the inner RH around 63-65%, but during the winter, due to the lower outside temperature -> less frequent switching on/off -> less moisture drawled from the air -> the RH levels are around 65-68%.

To avoid the described above, you can put small humidors in to the chiller with each having its own humidifier inside. This way will avoid direct cold air blowing on to some of the cigars if you left some cigars outside the boxes.

Good analog hydrometer: since the digital once measure current humidity(RH is calculated based on the temperature measured) and it can fluctuate due to change in temperature, better presentation for the average humidity can be obtained by using good reliable and calibrated analog hydrometer. I mean - do not relay on digital hydrometer for TEC cooled chiller.

If you find TEC, PID controlled cooler it will be the best option.

For my humidor, I made some software averaging of the humidity over long period of time and if humidity is higher that the selected it runs the TEC element below dew point. If the humidity is ok, or lower that pre-selected one, it runs the FAN of the inner heat sink and switches off/on the TEC, so to maintain the temperature above the dew point, so no humidity is lost in form of water droplets on the inner heat sink - this takes little longer to cool, even with 1C, about 30min, but keep the humidity stable during cooling.

Soon I am thinking to prepare new hardware/software based on Arduino/nodeMCU, that will include PID and more precise control of temperature / humidity, WiFi, Web based control and monitoring, data logging, but I am not sure when I will have the time to do it. Will post on the blog once I started working on the new hardware/software. Just looking for DC/DC power source that can be controlled digitally.


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## oreo1983 (Jul 20, 2017)

Thank you for this elaborated answer 
I do have TEC cooler, but, unfortunately I don't have a digital display, only a knob for white or red wine, red wine is the warmest of the two, hence the temp is about 15C, and the RH % are about 68-69%


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## edibg (Mar 18, 2013)

oreo1983 said:


> Thank you for this elaborated answer
> I do have TEC cooler, but, unfortunately I don't have a digital display, only a knob for white or red wine, red wine is the warmest of the two, hence the temp is about 15C, and the RH % are about 68-69%


 In this case, if the temperature is not good for you, you can try to find the sensing element and if it is with 2 wires, most probably will be thermistor. Then measure the resistance with multimeter for 2 different temperatures and then calculating its value. After that you can insert series resistor or parallel resistor(depends on the measurements) to reach the desired temperature.

If the external fans are working constantly and when it reaches 15C, decrease the fan speeds, that means that you have PID controlled cooler(I guess also by the RH levels are so stable if you have digital hydrometer ).


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